Yui Yuigahama Was Smarter Than Previously Predicted
by Estavius
Summary: In the midst of a day's typical debate, Yui Yuigahama asked a question.


Yui Yuigahama was Smarter Than Previously Predicted

"You still haven't proven how exactly someone isolated from society could produce greater results than those working in unison. Although it is true that someone working alone would most likely hone more talents due to the lack of manpower and such, but to say that one can overpower many is stretching it." Yukinoshita closed her book irately.

I followed suit; it was supposedly common manners to follow-up in such a way. Was that how it worked?

"That's not my point; you're pushing this through an entirely different perspective." I argued.

"You've just admitted that a loner _will_ gain extra skills to make up for the lack of aide. Thus, a loner will on average do better than someone who has social obligations. Rather than comparing a loner to the flock, a clearly disadvantageous scenario, why not mano a mano?"

"Manoa… what?" Yuigahama interrupted.

"The original term mano a mano referred to unarmed combat, but in recent times its usage has spread to encompass any form of fair fight. Hence Hikigaya-kun's usage of it to compare people one to one."

"Thank you Yukipedia. Clearly a loner would vastly outperform an out-of-place lemming."

Yukinoshita smiled frostily. Should I run now or will the ice queen be courteous enough to grant me a final wish?

"Despite how _I_ could personally outperform most, _your_ mathematics are sorely outmatched by the vast majority of students at Sobu High. When comparing data, it is common sense to focus on the average and remove outliers such as myself."

Subtle bragging. Very, very subtle indeed. I clapped mentally at this _tiny_ display of humble self-confidence.

"Then you could also say that _I_ do not represent the 'average folk'. To add onto that, a loner will have much more time to study with fewer disruptions."

Yukinoshita nodded. As a fellow loner, she obviously understood. Yet, for good or ill, she had chosen a side to argue for and had to defend it all the same.

"That is true, but that boon only exists if you assumed the one who is more social does not study, or know how to manage their time. There are many who understand this balance, as it merely requires enhanced mental restraint. To add onto this-"

"Yuigahama."

"Eh?" Yuigahama shot up after hearing her name.

"That is a fair point." Yukinoshita conceded one.

"Why am I a point!"

"Anyways, if social people need more mental restraint, doesn't that mean they're handicapped academically? As a result, those without those ties are better off and start with an advantage. Here's a story from my father's brother's niece's brother."

"I-isn't that you?" A voice spoke up, but I paid it no heed.

"Once upon an eighth grade, my father's brother's niece's brother was working on a group project. But as a result of the unfortunate system through which students choose their own groups, my father's brother's niece's brother ended up without a single group member. No one wanted to part with their chosen friends, so the teacher had to let my father's brother's niece's brother work alone. In that project, I poured hours-"

"I?" Another interruption, but it was unimportant.

"-my father's brother's niece's brother poured of hours of hard work, tears, sweat, and stumped toes into it. My father's brother's niece's brother pulled two all-nighters in a row to make up for all the work that couldn't be done by one person alone. The project ended up being the best one in the class, though the teacher later dropped and shattered it. E-either way, my father's brother's niece's brother was left with an advantage by removing the unnecessary baggage that the average social animal brings to the table. Therefore, a loner can in fact defeat those in groups, as well as function better while running solo."

"Hey, ah, Hikki." Yuigahama cut in.

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure you actually enjoyed being alone?" Yuigahama asked.

A ridiculous question. Of course I had come to appreciate the subtle nuances of the loner's relationship with themselves in the years I'd had with myself and myself alone at school.

"Yes." I responded simply. What more was there to say? Yuigahama had been in this club room with us these past months, and for ill or not, heard many many old stories of m- _my father's brother's niece's brother's_ past years.

"How can you be sure?"

"It's not that complicated." I told her.

In fact, it was rather simple. As my mind gradually descended into its dark depths, I naturally grew apart from those around me. As I grew enlightened, I kept my silence from those who sought other pleasures.

"Like, it's not that I'm saying you're lying… but have you ever thought that maybe you were just conforming to those around you?" Yuigahama spoke slowly.

"Me? Conforming?" I let out an incredulous laugh. "Do you mean to say that by ignoring my classmates, I was doing what I was supposed to?"

Surely Yuigahama didn't mean that.

Surely Yuigahama didn't imply that I was a loner _because I was conforming to society._

Surely Yuigahama didn't think that loners were that way _because society wanted them to be one._

"Ah, well, yes." Yuigahama answered quickly.

"Yuigahama-san…"

"There exists something by the name of the CONSISTENCY PRINCIPLE, or the RULE OF CONSISTENCY. COMMITMENT too is an important thing to look at."

Big words, big words indeed.

But how exactly did they push her argument?

"You say that I am conforming, but what am I conforming to? A loner is someone who cuts themselves off, not someone who obediently obeys at beck and call. As a loner, I can faithfully say that most try to go for the opposite: to ignore or defy."

"Haha… Hikki, well that's exactly it." Yuigahama continued hesitantly.

What exactly did she mean? I glanced over at Yukinoshita, but the ice queen avoided my gaze, and chose to instead stare down at her book. Or perhaps she didn't care for the conversation?

"Do say." I prompted. I hadn't become third in Japanese without learning how to argue a point in debates or essays. Furthermore, I jousted verbally with Yukinoshita regularly. In this, I was confident in my skills.

"Let's see… Hikki, you said before that you're a loner, right?"

"…Yeah?" I confirmed, not sure where Yuigahama was going.

"So by admitting that you're a loner, you pressure yourself to remain CONSISTENT with your own belief that you are an outcast. The COMMITMENTS you've made makes you act like a loner because you've admitted that you're a loner. After following this habit for so and so time, you just go along with it."

What now? Did Yuigahama just say that I was a loner because I _forged_ my actions to mimic that of one?

"How exactly am I being pressured by myself? Moreover, I'm sure that there exist loners aside from myself who naturally avoid people. Why would I pressure myself to act like a loner? That is, assuming it's not _who I am_ to begin with." I pointed out.

"W-well, most people want to be consistent. Most people view CONSISTENCY as a good thing. Like a b-boyfriend who doesn't cheat, or something like that. People who aren't CONSISTENT are usually looked at like they're bad people, with mental problems and stuff like that."

CONSISTENCY eh? Was it not possible for me to be a loner because I was a loner?

"Either way, doesn't that just imply that _once_ I became a loner, I stayed a loner? How would that, by any means, force me into those actions to begin with?"

Yuigahama took a long sip of her tea. I glanced down at my own cup, as steam rose up from the tranquil surface. I raised it to my mouth for a taste, but unfortunately my cat's tongue struck again. The tea sloshed as I hurriedly set it down, tongue burned from the encounter.

"Do you remember the Korean war?" Yuigahama sidetracked.

Hadn't the topic been about CONSISTENCY and COMMITMENT? Strike one for Yuigahama then.

"What about it?"

"The Chinese were able to make pretty much every American troop they captured cooperate at least once with their captors."

"And?" I said, not quite following where the topic was going. Was this a whole other topic entirely or was this meant to build off of the commitment, consistency and whatever other words Yuigahama had thrown out?

"They did this by starting with smaller, less significant demands. Like writing letters, or signing their names for pro-communist things. The Chinese slowly worked them up towards bigger, more significant demands though, and because of all the accumulated little deeds or favours, they were more likely to accept or listen to the Chinese. The more things they did for the Chinese, the more their personal perception of themselves mutated into that of a 'collaborator'. So the more you acted like a loner, the more your perception of yourself changed to that of a loner, which made you become a loner and stay a loner."

It was a rather long-winded explanation to a theory. Still, it was just that: a theory.

"In your example, the Chinese served as an influence on the prisoners of war, right? You seem to be underestimating how much disdain I had for my… classmates. If no 'smaller' actions were taken, how can that lead to more?"

Yuigahama smiled feebly.

"Hikki, would you call yourself pessimistic?"

A pessimist? A pessimist was someone who thought of all the negatives, all the horrible endings. Thus, I wasn't a pessimist. I was a _realist_ , forged in the fire of rejection.

"No. I'm a realist."

"Hikigaya-kun. You only perceive yourself as a realist because you believe in your own values. From any _other's_ perspective, you are exceedingly negative, similar to your math scores." Yukinoshita interjected for the first time.

"Well, that's highly opinionated. You can't speak for others, so you can only reference _your_ own opinions on my opinions. This 'other' you speak of then means you and you alone." To this Yukinoshita shrugged, an oddly noncommittal action on her part. Normally she would've stabbed back at me with the fury of a thousand suns.

"Aha… Hikki... I-I'll take that as a yes." Yuigahama said slowly. "If you're pessimistic, then you'd think negatively about yourself and your interactions with others. So maybe even if you ignored insults, you might've reflected on your actions and mentally put down yourself by calling yourself a loner or making assumptions on why others interacted with you a certain way. Maybe from there, you spiraled down into a cycle of self-deprivation?"

"I doubt it." I told her. "Even if my opinions matched up with what you've said, how does that lead to an underlying reason for my activities? I'll admit that I was and still am what the public would consider 'negative'. I'll give you that I might have written a fair amount of _realistic_ future predictions. Yet how does that tie into this?"

Yuigahama's argument was a solid one if I were to assume she hadn't been making it all up on the spot. The validity was unknown, but had it been downright false Yukipedia would've intervened. Could it possibly be a credible academic theory?

"A-actually Hikki…"

Here it came, the backbone to the splutter, the information that the Yukipedia was probably fully aware of since the start of the conversation.

The example or proof of the point and analysis Yuigahama had given.

"… In a study done by Cioffi & Garner in 1996, they found that a written statement, or commitment, heavily pressured people to follow through more than a silent one. They asked half the participants to fill out a form agreeing to help in a volunteer project, and the other half _passively_ agreed by not signing a form that said they didn't want to participate. A few days later, of the PERCENTILE of those who came, the majority were of those who had actively made the commitment by writing it down. ON AVERAGE, those who made written commitments were more likely to follow them.

What was this, statistics? The words PERCENTILE and ON AVERAGE made my head ache in a way strangely reminiscent of math. This conversation was leaving the range of talents I possessed; I was not a scientific person. There was no place for me in this topic.

"Okay." I concluded simply.

Was I accepting that the suggestion was possible? Maybe. Was I utterly terrified of the domain that existed beyond my reach, the realm of NUMBERS? Definitely.

"Yuigahama-san. Shall I assume you enjoyed the text?" Yukinoshita closed her book once more and set it down on the table.

Yukinoshita was involved? Suspicious. And Yuigahama reading? This must be life-threatening. To my horror, Yuigahama nodded, her bubbly grin as strong as always.

"Yeah, it wasn't as boring as school books."

Oh. 'It' was a book. A book on… history? Was it about hikikomoris? The Korean War? What vile power did the book have that let Yuigahama read it? Was it the book that you can never stop reading? How did she break the spell then?

"What book?" I interrupted.

" _Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion_ by Robert Cialdini. It's a very well regarded book in the fields of marketing and social psychology." Yukipedia replied immediately. Shesh, did she have her responses turned on autopilot?

Wait. A well regarded book in marketing and psychology? Yuigahama was reading something like that? The apocalypse was sure to arrive, any moment now. But perhaps, there existed a more puzzling conundrum.

"And you memorized pages of this book?" I turned to Yuigahama and stared. In turn, Yuigahama fidgeted awkwardly and her face reddened slightly.

"…Yes?" Yuigahama responded after a long pause. "It was, ah, interesting."

This was troublesome. The world had yet to give way to a dimension created by a mysterious six (pony)tailed high school student. Could this mean something else entirely?

"Yuigahama, are you alright? Did you hit your head?" I asked. Was this Yuigahama? Could it be a disguise?

"W-w-what do you mean!" Yuigahama shouted, voice echoing in the small room. Problem solved: even the legendary Kid couldn't mimic this level of Yuigahama. Or could he? That was a discussion for another day. Or rather, it might be better to never think of that again.

"Indeed, I was pleasantly surprised when Yuigahama-san messaged me to talk about the novel just four days after I'd given it to her as a Christmas gift." Yukinoshita spoke out, as a slight smile graced her lips.

A Christmas gift? So the two had exchanged something amongst themselves. That was… to be expected really. But a book? Yukinoshita must've wanted to introduce Yuigahama to the world of fine literature. A touching move by the queen to her loyal subject.

"Y-Yukinon! That's not fair!" Yuigahama exclaimed. "You can't double team me like that!"

"I suppose? Anyhow, I believe it is time for us to vacate the premises." Yukinoshita rose from her seat and began to tidy up the tea set and cups.

I waved goodbye, and left the two girls to clean up. After all, I didn't want to chip in some extra work. That'd be work. Extra work is still work, as it's just work, but it's work that's extra meaning it's work that's additional to one's own work, so in the end it's work that shouldn't be done if possible.

As I got onto my bike and started peddling, my mind wandered back to what Yuigahama said.

Was I deluding myself?

Was I actually a loner at heart?

Was I conforming?

Was I just trying to stay consistent?

What's more, could I even call myself a loner anymore? I regularly stayed with two females, both beautiful high school girls in their own right for an hour or so afterschool. It was a romantic comedy level twist to my previously void set of high school relationships. I harbored the hunch that other 'loners' might scoff at me. They might say that, as I've built what one could call a circle of friends, that I was no longer a loner at heart, in mind, and in society.

Yukinoshita, Yuigahama, Totsuka, Zaimokuza even, all of them had done me favours in the recent past. All of them had helped me of their own will, of their own volition. Was that what they call 'friendship'? Even past that, I also spent a vexing amount of time with Isshiki, and I was fortunate enough to have the most adorable little sister in existence.

So was I truly a loner?

That's a good question. This one, perhaps, I might keep for another day.

And maybe, just maybe, I'll go track down a copy of _Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion_ while I'm at it.

 **Guess what book I read recently?  
On another note, my characterization is still iffy.**

 **Also, as for the premise/title of the story, Yuigahama was capable of fully memorizing and performing a song after ten minutes of rushed practice. I've no idea why she isn't excelling in grades other than because it doesn't interest her, so she doesn't try as hard/focuses less.**


End file.
